Baseball Bounce

The 2011 Major League Season just ended.  My team, the Cincinnati Reds, only contended for about half of it, but that's OK because the ending of this season created some magical moments for me.  The collapse of both the Red Sox and the Braves, showed that the 162 game schedule is meant to be played to the end.  The surge of the Cardinals and the Rays was another glimpse of how anything is possible if you don't quit.  There was much to be learned from this memorable baseball season.  In many ways the season is the journey and the playoffs only add a finality that allows us to realize that baseball is rapidly coming to an end.  No more warm summer nights of fun at the ballpark, no more pennant races to watch, and only the prospect of cold winter days while waiting for spring to come.

This has been a memorable season for other reasons.  Millions attended the games, some places attaining record numbers, and all the while baseball didn't disappoint.  There were few controversies this season, although a lot of people think that Jose Reyes was a bit selfish in the way he achieved the National League Batting Title.  No one will soon mistake him for Ted Williams.  The steroid era seems to be in the past and scoring and home run output will bear that up.  Some great pitching performances, Justin Verlander is just one that comes to mind, the entire staff of the Philadelphia Phillies, and a few no-hitters sprinkled in for conversation.  The season has ended and it seems like an old friend who comes to visit, you are kind of glad he's gone but still you can't wait until he comes again.

That's the great thing about baseball, it is like an old friend who has been with you since you were a kid, and now that you are an adult the familiarity of baseball is a true tie to your youth.  Yes, this has been a season to remember.  It won't be that long until the pitchers and catchers report for spring training and we get to do it all again.  Oh, and one more thing if you can't wait that long the Playoffs start tomorrow.

Mediocrity

The University of Kentucky has played 1182 football games since it played it's first one back in 1881.  Kentucky has won 573 lost 565 and tied 44.  That's just about as close as you can get to mediocre in 130 years of gridiron action.  There have been some great moments, the era of Bear Bryant, the mid seventies under Fran Curci, and of course the rejuvenation under Rich Brooks.  But most of the years in between has been characterised by "ho-hum" mediocrity. 

As we arrive on the eve of the Kentucky/Louisville, arguably our biggest rival, football game, I wonder why the fans are so surprised and apathetic of this years showing of Wildcats.  Many fans predicted an SEC Championship, at the very least a bigger bowl then the previous years.  The season is a long way from over Wildcat fans.  People are staying away from this Saturday's game, or at least that's what they claim, like it's some kind of insult that this years team hasn't performed up to their expectations.  Folks this is not Kentucky Basketball, there should be few expectations of championships.  Football at Kentucky is what it is, a way to go out on a fall day, with your family and friends, and root for your home state's school.

Kentucky Football will always be there for you why shouldn't you be there for it.  Why not enjoy the moments when they come.  Remember Andre Woodson's pass to Stevie Johnson in 2007 to win the game over the Cardinals, or that emotional win over number 1 ranked LSU, something akin to that might happen on Saturday.  Don't dwell on the fact that Kentucky Football doesn't live up to your expectations, dwell on the pleasure that a fall afternoon of football brings, and that pleasure is never mediocre.

Hope

We stand on the precipice of another college football season, and hopes here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky are high as usual.  For the last month we have asked the question on our radio show "The Sports Huddle" what this season will bring in football fortune.  After all at the moment Kentucky is undefeated.  Predictions have ranged from 11-1 to 6-6, with an average being around 7-5 or 8-4.  Kentucky has had only three seasons in the last fifty-eight years where they have won eight times, not a lot to base these lofty predictions on.

Kentucky starts the new season with a unseasoned quarterback, holes to fill on both the defensive and offensive lines, non starters in the backfield, and receivers that have played very little.  All the more reason to take a reasonable look at this years addition of Wildcats.  But, then we wouldn't be fans.  Fans want to see the possibility not the realism of well over a hundred years of disappointment.  Don't forget we are still undefeated. 

That's what is so great about a beautiful Saturday afternoon, tailgating with your friends, and bragging about what this season might bring,  Football may very well be the stuff that hope is made of.  The fall brings the last days of pretty weather and for a while holds back the inevitable of the approaching winter.  It's still a time when you can get outside and enjoy nature and hope for a winning football team.  And if the season doesn't go as well as most fans hope, well, each game brings us that much closer to basketball season.  Hopes change to expectation then.